Discord the Bearded
by Snail-Day-And-Night
Summary: Countless years ago, long before Discord plunged Equestria into his tyrany, a unicorn by the name of Star Swirl the Bearded had created perhaps the most ambitious of spells yet know to ponykind: being able to tamper with one's destiny and becoming an alicorn. What that pony didn't know, however, is that destiny is not something you can change without a bit of... chaos.
1. A Recipe For Disharmony

**A/N: I LIVVVVVVEEEEEEE! *cough* *gak* Urm, hello everyone! Newcomers and watchers alike. This is my second fanfiction ever! It's going to be a short fic, since I can't really fathom this idea going further with my crap creative thinking.**

**Also, to all Forever fans: I'm super, SUPER sorry for the lack of any sort of updates. I really plan on continuing the story, I really do, I already have the next chapter half-done by now. But the problem I've had with the fic is that I feel it's way too OOC and not so good, so I'm torn between finishing the first product and then remaking it or cancelling the first try and remake it ASAP. That said though, school's about to end, so I'll have a lot of free time these days!**

**Anyways, this fic is set with that little fan theory that has been running around, claiming Discord is actually a transformed Star Swirl. I really liked the concept, and it's finally not one of those "everything is a hallucination of X" craps that are so common among fandoms. I looked around and I haven't found any sort of fics for this theory, so I decided to make one myself, because WHY NOT? :D It may not be true (in fact the Season 4 finale makes the back story of not just this theory but the whole Equestria lore a lot more confusing) but I'm writing it anyway.**

* * *

Star Swirl was about to finish his prized spell after thousands upon thousands of failed attempts, and he was trying to hold in his excitedness. What would this spell do? The bearded pony intended this spell to be a secret due to its nature: being able to tamper with a pony's destiny, hopefully in the best way. And who knows? Maybe even add a bit of alicorn transformation into the mix. After all, what's not great about becoming an alicorn, the most powerful race of ponies, with just a mere set of words and a bit of magic?

He couldn't tell anyone about this, not even if he really wanted to. That's why these recent years he has been locked up in his personal library, he just couldn't let anybody know he was doing something that was quite taboo among ponykind. In fact, he's been so aislated from the outside world that all his personal relationships have begun to decay, as well as his personality. This single spell had drained him so much that he began to become a shell of his former self. The once jovial-yet-serious stallion transformed into an obsessive cranky old guy who hid perhaps one of the greediest works-in-progress in history.

His horn began to glow in its usual amber aura and levitated a quill towards an empty ink bottle without looking, dipping it expecting to receive it full of ink to write the last version of his spell. When the quill hovered over the empty page with no ink to speak of Star Swirl's eyes widened a bit in surprise, then caused him to frown and facepalm, dropping the quill in the opened book.

With a huff, the bearded stallion turned around to look around for more ink. He began to levitate a bunch of stuff to see if any of them was a bottle filled with ink. He turned around to see all the things he was holding until a knock in the door interrupted him, almost causing him to lose his concentration and dropping everything. Star Swirl grumpily reordered all the things he was holding in a breeze and headed to the door, opening it slowly. On the other side was Clover the Clever, his apprentice, shuffling a bit in embarrassment before noticing Star Swirl glaring at her.

"Oh-!" Clover eeked, "Hello Star Swirl, am I... interrupting you?" she asked.

"Yes," Star Swirl replied flatly, "What has brought you all the way here?"

"Well, it's been a long time since me and the others have talked to you," The mare explained, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Do you need any help? You look like you haven't gotten any sleep."

Star Swirl bit his lip, maybe he could let Clover help a bit. But wether telling her what he was up to or not was still unsolved.

"I just need a little favor," He admitted, opening the door fully so Clover could get in. The mare gleefully entered the library, and was a bit shocked at all the new artifacts and books that had been created since she had last seen the place. "I need to find a new ink bottle to finish a new spell of mine." The stallion hummed and resumed to levitating a bunch of the library's inventory.

"Really?" Clover asked, looking around for an ink bottle, "What will it do?"

Star Swirl flinched and glanced over at Clover angrily, "It's uh... None of your business, trust me." he puffed. He wasn't going to let Clover know what he was about to cast, at least not until he experienced the results himself.

Clover on the other hand rolled her eyes and kept looking for the thing Star Swirl needed. Eventually she came across a small bunch of ink bottles, most of them were empty, but she noticed that one of them was half-full, and picked it up with her magic.

"Hey, Star Swirl!" She called out, which caused the stallion to turn around in surprise, "I found this ink bottle, it's not new, though. Will it serve you any use-"

"YES!" Star Swirl almost screeched and snatched the ink bottle from Clover with his much more powerful levitating magic, Clover just stared at her friend in confusion. The bearded pony looked at his apprentice and scrunched, "Uhh, thank you Clover, now you can leave and go on with your daily routine." he thanked.

"Are you sure you don't need anything else-"

"No, of course not!" Star Swirl eeked and began to push Clover forcefully towards the door, "You've been of great use! Thanks, whatever! Now leave me alone! I need to finish something GREAT!" he rambled and finally managed to shove Clover out of the library. Before the mare could protest, Star Swirl closed the door with a very loud THUD.

"What in the hay...?" Clover questioned and turned around to return to the library, only to notice the door had been closed upon her. The mare frowned at first, but after a while she just looked at the closed door with a saddening confusion. What had ever happened to her mentor? Her friend? Why was he so grumpy, and what was he making now?

"I... I'll come back tomorrow if you need any more help...!?" She called out, hoping it was loud enough for Star Swirl to hear, then stood up, dusted herself off and left.

Star Swirl stared at the door dumbfounded for a bit before shaking his head and glancing over at the ink bottle, grinning mischievously. With a small laugh, he trotted over to the book and tossed aside the empty ink bottle to put the new one in its place. He reached out to the book in order to levitate the quill, when suddenly he heard Clover outside his library. His smile slowly dropped into a guilty frown. Was it really worth it shunning himself away from the ones he cared about? Was his behavior excusable?

...

...

Of course it was.

He was making the magnum opus of all his career, for pony's sake! Surely any sort of unruliness coming from him could be excusable for making such an impact to magic, right.

The grin returned to his face as he readily levitated his quill and soaked it with ink, then hovered it over to the blank page and began to write:

_From one to another,_

_from another to one._

_A mark of one's destiny singled out alone,_

_fulfilled._

Star Swirl almost squeaked when he wrote the last line, tossing his quill to the side, he used his magic to lift up the book and then trotted towards the center of the room he was in. Then he gingerly placed the book in the ground and took a deep breath. After huffing he eyed over at the book and grinned from ear to ear, he was so excited to test this!

His horn began to irradiate aura as he chanted the words of the spell.

"From one to another." He stated, his horn began to shine even more.

"From another to one...!" He chimed, making his horn expel out even more magic aura.

"A mark of one's destiny... singled out alone!" The stallion stood up on his hind legs and had to close his eyes due to how bright the glow of his horn was becoming.

"FULFILLED!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, which caused his horn to emit a very powerful light and power in a flash and then stopping abruptly, causing Star Swirl to lose balance and fall over.

The bearded pony accidentally slammed his head with a table nearby, causing him to get a bit dazzled. Soon enough he was able to shake this off, though, and shakily raised to his hooves. Star Swirl immediately looked at himself frantically, trying to see if any changes had happened to him. He began to try and moving all of his body to see if anything was missing... or perhaps anything new appeared.

...

Nothing.

He didn't feel anything new. No lost limbs, no new mane styles, and most importantly, no wings. This caused him to pout, yet another failed attempt at his magnum opus and yet another piece of scrap paper to add to the pile. Except he didn't notice one thing...

His horn was beginning to glow at its crevices.

It wasn't until some moments later that he noticed some light began to irradiate from his horn that Star Swirl noticed this and began to panic, he wasn't doing this! And most importantly, he wasn't able to stop it! Soon the light from his horn began to irradiate so much magic that it began to levitate poor Star Swirl up in the air and encased him within a magic bubble. The stallion tried to squirm and escape his self-made prison, but it was futile. Soon he had to close his eyes yet again due to the blinding light, he tried to scream, but all that came out was a gasp as he felt something on his back stretching outwards...

...

**BOOM!**

...

...

The magic bubble had exploded and dissipated, leaving Star Swirl unconscious on the floor. Groggily and shakily he began to wake up, trying his best to regain his balance and stand up.

"U-Ugh..." He groaned as he finally managed to stand up fully once again. With his head low and his eyes closed, he tried to catch his breath. After a while, he breathed deeply and raised his head, suddenly he felt something spring out of his cape, which made him jump in surprise. But the pony quickly recognized what was going on... He felt a bit heavier in his back area, and he could feel something moving. That only meant one thing.

Star Swirl's eyes lightened up with excitement.

He had done it.

It had worked.

"YES! AHAHAH!" He exclaimed, raising to his hind legs again and waving his front legs in the air, laughing like a madman. He kept on laughing for a solid minute until the laughter finally died down and he stood on all fours again, his expression showed a bit of a confused smile.

"Ahah... Hah... Oh..." Star Swirl sighed, unsure of what to do next. He turned his head around to check out his new wings. They were feathery and had the same color as his fur. So far so good he supposed, it was such a relief everything had turned out OK in the end.

With a soft smile, he folded his wings against his sides and walked towards his room. He needed much rest after this experience, that's for sure. But during all this time, Star Swirl had forgotten to check his horn yet again.

Its crevices were glowing dimly yet once more, and his eyes, once a beautiful amber, were now an unnerving crimson.


	2. Testing Chaos

**A/N: Regarding Forever, I think I will continue it. I'm not 100% sure, but I'd hate to see it get unfinished and abandoned. And it really matters a lot to me, really. I can never complete a self-imposed project, and hopefully these two fics I'm writing can change that. I want to be more productive one way or another.**

**Anyways, enjoy chapter 2!**

* * *

Star Swirl calmly opened the door to his room, but instead of the door moving, the stallion accidentally teleported himself to his bed. With a yelp, Star Swirl jumped out of the mattress and analyzed what had just happened. He didn't do that on purpose, he just wanted to open a door! Well... It was probably a side effect of upgrading to alicorn magic, right? He needed some time before he got used to it.

The stallion walked over to the mirror in his room and removed his hat and cape on the way there, tossing them aside. He wanted to have a good look at himself to see if there were any sort of anomalies he could fix. And it turns out he was right! Star Swirl's eyes widened in shock after realizing his eyes were a very bright red, and his horn was glowing with magic. He expected the same explosive bubble incident from earlier happening, so he instinctively flinched and waited for the worse.

"Oh no!" He eeked.

...

...

Star Swirl popped one eye open when he felt nothing had happened and quickly looked over at himself at the mirror again. This time very closely. It seemed his horn was stuck with that glow, but so far nothing bad had happened, save perhaps for the accidental teletransportation he experienced earlier.

The stallion made a squeaky smile and headed towards his bed, plopping down without a care. After shifting into a more comfortable position and placing a blanket on top of himself, Star Swirl sighed deeply and closed his eyes, ready to drift off.

"Ah... Finally, I can get some rest now..." He muttered.

**THE NEXT DAY (DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNN)**

Star Swirl opened his eyes groggily when he heard someone calling from outside. He yawned and stretched as he rose to his knees. After a few more moments for listening he realized the voice that was calling out was Clover's. So he decided to head for the door and-

Wait a minute, why bothering opening door by door when he could just teleport himself in a flash so easily now? The stallion looked over at his hat and cape, tossed over to the side last night and which were now lying on the floor. Star Swirl began to make his horn shine to levitate his clothes towards him, but instead he caused the clothes to teleport towards him and dress him automatically. The problem was that he accidentally made them purple in the process.

"What the...?" He asked, then groaned, lighting his horn again to dye his clothes back to their usual color. Then he casted the teletransportation spell and reappeared in in the library's main hall, right in front of the door leading outside. Star Swirl checked to see everything was in order and smiled smugly, then opened the door with his magic. Clover was still knocking the door, and as soon as Star Swirl opened it, her hoof swung in the air.

"Ah!" The mare eeked and looked at Star Swirl. He looked... Off, "Oh, hello Star Swirl. Did you... complete your spell?" she asked, staring at his red irises and... bags under his eyes? They looked a shade darker from his natural fur color.

"Hello Clover," Star Swirl huffed proudly, "Why yes, yes I did." he replied, expecting Clover to see the changes he had done to his body. But the only thing the mare could see were the new eyes, the wings were barely notable, mostly because they were covered by his robe and you know... those eyes, again.

"So you... changed your eye color?" She asked, confused, "Didn't you already make an eye-changing spell years ago?" she asked.

"What-? No! This is just a side effect!" Star Swirl snapped and with a flash of magic he made his cape and hat disappear, then he opened his wings fully, which made Clover flinch and step back, "This is the main feature! The wings! I'm an alicorn now!" he ranted.

The mare on the other hand felt her jaw drop. How did he do this? More importantly, why would he do that? As far as she knew, it wasn't right to become an alicorn, you had to earn that status, right? Just like the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, did. Her shocked face soon turned into a serious frown.

"Um, Star Swirl, I don't think this is correct," She admitted, "I mean, what's the point of doing that? I-It doesn't make any sense at all!"

Star Swirl's eyes widened for a while, then frowned, "Oh come on, what fun is there in making sense all the time anyways? Besides, this DOES make perfect sense!" he snarked, flapping his wings in frustration, "Alicorns are the most powerful ponies in Equestria," he explained, "It is only natural that I enhanced my magic capacity sometime soon. Isn't that logical enough?" he inquired.

Clover darted her eyes left and right, feeling a bit intimidated by the situation. She didn't know why, but something told her this was about to go horribly wrong. "But..." She sighed, relaxing and lowering her head and looking at Star Swirl, "Reaching alicorn status is not something ponies can achieve with regular magic... You know that ponies need to understand empathetic magic to transcend! Friendship! Besides-"

"Besides nothing!" Star Swirl interrupted, stomping his hoof, "Friendship is ridiculous, and it's not the only way to become an alicorn!" he whined and folded his wings. Clover huffed and noticed Star Swirl's horn was glowing.

"Are you doing something?" The mare asked.

"Yes I am, I'm being disappointed at you right now." The stallion hissed.

"No, I mean your horn," Clover exclaimed, pointing at Star Swirl's forehead, "Why is it glowing? Are you doing magic?"

"What? No, not really," Star Swirl admitted, shifting a bit, "It's another side effect."

"Another?!" Clover asked, slightly concerned, "I guess I can deal with the eye change... And maybe the alicorn status, but that is not natural!" she eeked, "Your horn looks like it's about to come apart from all that magic inside it!"

Star Swirl rolled his eyes and with a flash he made his clothes reappear on him, "Don't be ridiculous, Clover, there is no such thing as your horn exploding from too much magic," he huffed and exited the library, closing the door with his magic and almost bumping into Clover in the process, "Now if you excuse me I have to train my magical abilities."

Clover looked at Star Swirl with concern, then frowned and began to walk along with him, "I'm coming with you!" she exclaimed, "I won't let you alone with the way you're acting."

Star Swirl frowned deeply and then turned his head away from Clover's direction, "Hmph, fine, but let me tell you one thing, miss," he said, then turned around to glare at Clover again, "Nothing that you might do or say will convince me from changing this back."

Clover's ears dropped in slight fear.

**A FEW HOURS LATER**

Star Swirl and Clover had reached a clearing in the forest nearby. The bearded stallion looked around for things to try his new powers on, when suddenly he noticed a little fluffy bunny hopping along the clearing, not noticing the two ponies. Star Swirl grinned deviously as his horn began to glow. Clover on the other hand was looking around at the scenery, when she turned around to see what Star Swirl was doing, she gasped.

**POOF!**

In a flash, the poor innocent bunny had been transformed into... An orange with bunny legs and tail.

Star Swirl stared at the monstrosity he had created, dumbfounded. When he was still a unicorn, spells like this really drained him and took lots of concentration, but now he had switched up this poor forest creature in the blink of an eye, and he didn't feel tired at all. The orange-bunny was squirming and rolling around on the ground in confusion, which caused Star Swirl to crack up.

"PFFFT! Ahahah!" The stallion laughed, stomping his hooves. Clover approached the orange-bunny and looked over at Star Swirl with a frown.

"Star Swirl! What was that about?" She complained, placing a hoof on the half-fruit half-animal creature to cease its movements, "We came all the way over here just so you could turn a bunny into this? Turn him back to normal!" she demanded, releasing the animal after it stopped spazzing out.

Star Swirl ceased his laughter and glanced over at Clover, "Ah, you're no fun. But no, we didn't come all the way over here just to zap a rabbit," he confirmed and with a shine of his horn, the bunny returned to normal and hopped away as quickly as it could, "I came here to test out and control my new magic, you just followed me. And it seems you don't really know what this spell meant."

Clover rolled her eyes, if there was anyone who was being the opposite of fun here, it was him. "No I don't, really." She admitted, looking at her mentor with an unimpressed expression.

"You don't?" Star Swirl eeked and facepalmed, but quickly placed his hoof back on the ground again, "This spell is one of the hardest to perform of all, and it requires absolute concentration, right?" he asked.

Clover nodded slowly, "And...?"

"And? I just did it in the blink of an eye for pony's sake!" He exclaimed, stomping his hoof, "This means now any sort of magic will be nothing but a simple trick for me!" he stated proudly, then looked around and stroked his beard at the same time, "...Hmm..." he huffed, then began to make his horn glow yet again. His horn quickly created a thin bubble field that began to expand and touch the ground and grass, this caused the land to turn from green to a pink checkered pattern. Clover took notice of this and yelped, backing off as the bubble expanded.

The magic bubble reached Clover, but thankfully it didn't do anything to her. Soon the magic touched some trees, turning them into crystal. After a while, however, the trees got uprooted and began to float, turning upside down, and poor Clover wasn't safe from this effect, either, as she began to levitate and spin around slowly.

Star Swirl's horn returned to its 'natural' dim glow state as he noticed what he had done. Even without his horn's power, all the changes he had done stayed the same.

"Eep!" Clover yelped, flapping her legs, "Put me down, Star Swirl! This is madness!"

Star Swirl looked at his apprentice with concern and began to make his horn glow. In a flash, soon everything was back to normal. The trees became natural again and returned to the ground without a scratch, the grass and dirt returned to their natural state and Clover fell to the ground with a thud.

"Ow..." Clover whined, her eyes were spinning before she shook her head and looked up to see Star Swirl approaching her.

"Just a simple trick," Star Swirl grinned, "I think it's obvious I now have a greater control over my magic, isn't it?" he asked smugly, "And you thought that spell meant bad news."

But who said Clover changed her mind about that statement?


	3. Explosive Apples

**A/N: Thank you for the support, guys! Hope you enjoy chapter 3! :)**

* * *

Clover rose up to her hooves and glared at Star Swirl, "What was that all about?" she asked. The bearded stallion, however, looked at her unamusedly, stroking his beard.

"Another test," He calmly replied, "Though I admit raising you up in the air was an accident."

"Are you sure?" Clover asked, unconvinced due to Star Swirl's recent behavior, this caused Star Swirl to huff.

"Yes, I'm sure," The stallion hissed and turned to leave.

"Where are you going now?"

"To town," He explained, "I need to further train my magic."

Clover rolled her eyes and went after the unicorn-turned-wizard. After all that commotion, however, none of them realized Star Swirl's horn was shining even brighter that the last time they checked.

**LATER THAT DAY**

Star Swirl and Clover were strolling across town, they hadn't spoken since they were in the forest, which left Clover confused about what Star Swirl had intended to do when in town.

"So..." Clover began, "What are we doing here?"

"We're..." Star Swirl replied, then hummed in confusion, "We're buying something to eat!" he replied, then came up with an idea, "Or maybe... Creating something to eat..." he grinned mischievously. The bearded stallion looked around and came across a little rock. If he could turn that bunny into an orange earlier, surely he could turn this rock into an apple or something similar.

His horn began to glow and levitated the pebble up in the air, the pebble soon began to morph and change color, until finally the result was a juicy red apple being levitated by Star Swirl's magic.

"Haha!" Star Swirl laughed, then moved the apple around, Clover looked at what he had just done, surprised, "Care to try a bite?" he asked.

Clover immediately shook her head in denial.

Star Swirl rolled his eyes and made a "pfft" noise with his mouth, "You miss it." he snarked and hovered the apple towards his mouth.

The stallion opened his mouth and bit the apple, but instead of taking a chunk out of it the apple made a rubbery noise and compressed under his bite.

**ZING!**

The apple was sent out flying from too much pressure and began to bounce on all directions, slamming against some ponies, bouncing off buildings, and causing all sorts of mess. Soon the apple hit a barrel and propelled upwards into the sky, after a while it fell down towards a little plaza and as soon as it made contact with the ground...

**BOOM!**

The apple had exploded with a tremendous force, leaving a cloud of smoke as its aftermath and leaving both Star Swirl and Clover with their jaws dropped in shock.

...

"You can't control your powers-"

"Shut up, that was... intentional, obviously!"

"It was?!"

"... No." Star Swirl pouted.

**EVEN LATER THAT DAY (SO DRAMATIC BY THE WAY)**

Clover and Star Swirl did manage to get something to eat after the apple incident. The mare had become even more aware of how unstable Star Swirl's new power was, as one time Star Swirl sneezed caused a house to fly into the sky and as they exited out of the market, and every time the stallion stepped on dirt it turned into bubbly soap. Star Swirl was also aware of this himself, and although he could reverse everything back he worried someone other than Clover would notice he was the cause.

"I think we should probably tell the two sisters about your condition, Star Swirl," Clover added, "You and I know you're struggling to get a hold of yourself."

"But I refuse," Star Swirl snorted, "Those two are so uptight and plain, always playing it safe with their magic and yelling at everypony just because they feel like it. I do not wish to associate with those bores."

"One year ago you wouldn't have said that." The mare raised an eyebrow.

"One year ago I didn't know any better!" He snarked, "Making that alicorn spell made me see a lot of things I hadn't noticed before."

Clover's eyes widened, did that alicorn spell corrupt his mind? If that was the case, she needed to show it to Celestia and Luna as well. Although Star Swirl probably wouldn't like that... But then again, the old guy was pretty much out of his mind right now. He was acting the opposite of how he did one year ago, he was pretty much another pony, and a very rude one at that. Perhaps this could give Clover and excuse to "borrow" his spellbook and show it to the two sisters, right?

"Hold on a second, what did that alicorn spell you make say?" Clover asked curiously.

"None of your business!" Star Swirl replied.

If there was any other reason to consult the two sisters about this whole mess, that would be it. She didn't want the two sisters to punish her mentor, she just wanted to make sure he was aware of how dangerous this was. And judging by the fact that he wanted to keep hidden whatever thing he had put down in words, this was something big.

"I think I'm going back to the forest to train some more," Star Swirl said, touching his horn which had an even brighter glow than it did hours ago, "Are you coming...?"

"Um, no!" Clover admitted.

"You aren't?" He asked, making a face, "Why aren't you coming? You've been practically stuck to me all this day, ranting about how I should talk to Celestia and Luna, after all."

Clover frowned and rolled her eyes, "I just... Remembered I have to meet up with Princess Platinum, you understand, right?" she lied.

Star Swirl stared at his apprentice with a raised eyebrow then turned away to head for the forest, "Of course I do." he hummed.

"Thank you, Star Swirl." She managed to thank and ran off into town.

The bearded stallion waited until his apprentice left and entered the forest.

"And I hope you understand you can't play me for a fool." He muttered, casually making the dirt he was walking on soap.

Princess Platinum was away from Equestria on royal duty, and Star Swirl was well aware of that.

**LATER IN STAR SWIRL'S LIBRARY**

Clover teleported herself into Star Swirl's library and looked around. The moon was rising, so now without candles everything was very dark, but the mare wasn't confident about lighting any candles, she wanted to leave as few marks of her presence as possible. Her horn began to glow and illuminated the place as she walked about.

She was aware of all the new spells and objects there were in here yesterday, but at a better glance they looked omnious, or maybe it was just the darkness of the library. Although one of the new trinkets had a black alicorn glaring at her with red eyes.

She eventually stumbled across a book laid open in the ground. She levitated it with her magic and began to scan it. Clover gasped as she read the page the book was open on, the words she was reading were probably the new spell, as she had never seen them before. She looked at the book cover to make sure she was right. The book was indeed Star Swirl's spellbook. Bingo.

The mare turned around to leave but suddenly she heard a noise, causing her to jump. Soon all the candles of the room were lit, which caused Clover to shrink in fear.

"I thought you were going to meet Princess Platinum," Star Swirl said flatly, his horn glowing as if he was performing a powerful spell, but he wasn't doing anything... yet, "But then again, she's not even here, is she?"

Clover turned around with fear and gulped, then stood up shakily, "I was just... U-Um..."

"I believe that is mine." The stallion growled and used his magic to snatch the book away from Clover's own magical grip and tossed it to his side, away from the mare. Which caused Clover to yelp.

"Now, Clover," Star Swirl began with a very deep frown in his face, "Trying to push me into doing something I don't want to do is one thing, but stealing something from me, your _mentor_, is something I can't allow!" he growled.

"B-But, Star Swirl! What's happening to you is not normal! You're not acting normal! I'm just trying to help!" Clover eeked.

"I don't need any help! I don't want any sort of pony to mess with the stuff I have created!" The stallion screeched.

"Yes you do!" Clover tried to screech back, "And I'm trying to help you because you're my friend! I can't let-"

"We were never friends to begin with, Clover!" Star Swirl stood his ground, and began to make his horn glow even more, "And it's time to teach you a new lesson." he growled.

The stallion's horn attempted to summon enough magic to blast a mind-erasing beam at Clover, but soon enough, the mare's worries came true.

Star Swirl's horn literally exploded.

In an instant, the stallion screamed in pain and confusion as the magic that used to be contained in his horn began to flow freely, enveloping its user and forcing him to stand up in his hind legs.

Clover began to step back in fear as the surroundings began to get edited by the excess of magic. Soon the candles began to float and the wooden floor became that pink checkered pattern of last time in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile Star Swirl was beginning to tear up due to the agonizing pain he was feeling wash over his body as the magic coming from his horn began to transform his body slowly. Soon the amber-colored aura changed into a much more chaotic dark purple-ish color with bits of other colored aura flying off it. The stallion tried to undo everything that was happening to his body, but it was futile. What he could do, however, was watch his terrified student.

"C-CLOVER!" He screamed, holding out his front legs in front of him, "P-Please, help! QUICK!" he begged. Soon he saw his hooves being washed over by the magic, and they began to morph into animal parts. One of them turned into a lion paw, and the other into an eagle's talon. Star Swirl screeched as he tried to control the morphing progress, looking at Clover with fear.

"CLOVER!" The stallion screamed angrily.

The last thing he saw was Clover teleporting herself away from the library, and the last thing he felt was his torso elongating until he couldn't keep balance, until finally he gave up and passed out.


	4. Let's (Not) Fly To The Castle!

**A/N: HEEEEEEREEEEE'SSSSS DISCORD! *creeper face***

**[EDIT]: It seems there was a category of Clover the Clever recently added (either that or I'm stupid), so I edited the characters a bit! Also the two princesses may play an important role later on, but wether or not adding them to the roster I'm not so sure. We'll see when that comes along :)**

* * *

Star Swirl groaned as he began to come back to his senses. The pony-turned-draconequus was lying on the floor limply as he woke up. The last moments before he lost conciousness were blurry, but he could recall most of the stuff that had happened, including the sudden pain and the way his hooves transformed into animal legs.

The draconequus looked down and managed to see what were formerly his front legs. He tried moving them closer to his face to take a better look at them, and upon closer inspection he noticed both of them had fingers and opposable thumbs. That was... an improvement, alright. But enough gawking over his new hands, Star Swirl needed to stand up and take a look at what happened to his body. He rolled onto his belly and tried to stand up, and when he was on all fours, he realized something. The whole library was a mess, books were scattered around, the floor had a pink checkered pattern and the candles... were dancing?

Star Swirl pushed himself upwards and managed to stand on his hind legs. He'd take a good look at them later, right now he needed to set this place like it used to be. Not the he cared, he found the mess slightly amusing, but he needed to keep this hidden. The draconequus looked at his hands and waved them in front of him. With a flash, the whole library went back to normal, but the spell had also blown out the candles, leaving the building in darkness.

"At least I still have magic..." Star Swirl muttered and looked around, perhaps now it was a good idea to look at himself in the mirror.

He took a step forward towards what he thought was upstairs, but it just culminated in him tripping over some books and falling flat on his face.

"Ugh..." Star Swirl groaned, perhaps teleporting himself to his room was a better idea. So with another hand wave the draconequus teleported himself towards his room.

The window was open, which allowed the moonlight to reach and illuminate the room. Star Swirl reappeared near his mirror and took a peek, which caused him to gasp in shock. His face had transformed beyond recognition, he didn't even look like a pony anymore. Now a creature that looked like a horse with a fang, a snake-like tongue and two different styled horns stared back at him. Even his once generous beard had been reduced to a goatee of sorts. Sighing, he stepped closer to the mirror to look at his body, which was long and serpentine. His alicorn wings had transformed into a bat and bird's wing, and his hind legs were that of a horse and a dragon. His tail was also dragon-like, and he was overall much bigger than he used to be before.

Star Swirl glared at his reflection and turned around to look at the window. How did this happen? Had he written the spell wrong? The draconequus felt sad to know his magnum opus had gone horribly wrong. Well, at least he still had his amplified powers, so that was something. Too bad they couldn't stop his transformation, and it was even worse that Clover didn't help him.

...

Hold on a second.

"Clover-!" Star Swirl remembered, that sneaky mare, she was about to steal his book and didn't do anything to help. She just teleported herself away in his time of need. But since she was so zealous about talking to Celestia and Luna she probably-

She probably already was in her way to snitch on him!

"That unruly mare-!" Star Swirl screeched, he needed to track her down as soon as possible. But could he, really? The only way to reach out to her fast was by flying, but he still wasn't good enough at it, right? The draconequus jumped and began to flap his wings rapidly, and even though they had different designs, they were able to hold him very well.

Star Swirl headed for the window and leaped into the air and began to flap his wings as fast as he could, thankfully they still held him up and didn't allow him to fall down to the ground. He grinned and then zoomed towards the road that led to the castle of the two sisters.

Below him it seemed that not only the library had been tampered with, as some buildings were floating in the sky and some of the dirt roads where checkers and soap...

**MEANWHILE**

Clover ran across the path that led to the castle in hopes of making it on time. The last thing she saw in the library before she ran off was how her mentor began to transform into something. Under normal circumstances she would have stayed and tried to aid her friend, but one: he was out of his mind, and two: the magic that was irradiating from Star Swirl was beginning to tamper with everything inside the library, and she didn't want to risk getting affected, either.

Even though she was sure Star Swirl wasn't in condition of chasing her, the paranoia got the best of her and made her regularly turn her head while running to see if she was being followed. All the times she did that had proven she had nothing to worry about, at least not yet.

The mare turned around once more and this time spotted a flying creature coming towards the road in the distance. Clover gasped and immediately dived for the woods surrounding the road. She tried to work her way around the bushes and the like with as little as noise as possible until she was sure she was far away enough from the road to avoid being seen, but to be able to see what was going on herself.

Clover hid behind a bush and peeked out to see the empty road. Her breath was uneven due to her fear, but soon enough she calmed down when she saw that nothing had appeared yet. Maybe what she saw was just an owl or a bat. Sure, why not? After all, maybe her fear had just made her see things and-

The mare's eyes shrank in fear as she saw some sort of creature land in the road with a thud. Clover instinctively hid her head and didn't want to come out. It wasn't until she didn't hear anything happen that she slowly rose her head out of its hiding to see if anything had happened. The creature just stood there, looking around. She had to admit, it looked a tad dopey, and perhaps a bit ugly, but surely it wasn't out to get her- Wait a minute.

Those arms. Those were the arms Star Swirl's hooves turned into. She was totally sure about that.

Oh no.

Clover hid back again in the bush, that weird monster _was_ Star Swirl, and he _was_ out to get her. She wasn't brave enough to face him after what happened at the library, her only option was to carefully tip-toe her way through the forest. And so the mare laid as low as she could and began to crawl towards the direction of the castle. While in that place Clover couldn't see what Star Swirl was up to, for all she knew he could be behind her or just sitting down on the road like an idiot. Though she was sure the former was much more likely to happen.

**SNAP!**

Clover froze as she looked down to her hoof. A small twig had snapped under her steps. With a gulp, she tried to shrug it off and keep moving, but when she heard the sounds or bushes rustling and twigs moving is when she fully panicked and stood still. She closed her eyes tightly and held her breath in hopes of being unnoticeable.

...

...

Clover popped an eye open and looked around. Well, it seems like Star Swirl didn't notice her. But just to be sure, the mare looked up and slowly peeked her head from the bush she was hiding in. Nobody was around. Clover sighed in relief and hid behind the bush again and kept crawling.

"That was quite the thrill, wasn't it?"

"Yeah...!?" Clover huffed, then froze and looked above her.

Well that was wonderful. Star Swirl was floating on top of her.

It took some seconds for Clover to react to the current situation, but it all culminated in her teleporting herself away and reappearing some feet away, running for her life towards the castle. Unfortunately for her it wasn't long until Star Swirl used the same trick and teleported himself in front of Clover, making her bump into him and fall on her butt.

"Star Swirl...?" Clover eeked, looking up at the draconequus, "I... Well... You see..." she hummed.

"Why didn't you do something about this?!" Star Swirl whined, motioning himself.

"I-I'd would have done something if it weren't for the fact that I didn't know anything about what was happening to you!" Clover replied, "A-And I'm going to tell the princesses about this, we need to get you back to normal and-"

"You are not going anywhere, Clover!" Star Swirl stood his ground, "I think we both agreed that this would stay between us." he hissed, bending down and holding Clover's horn with one finger.

"But look at yourself!" Clover added, shrinking when Star Swirl inhibited her horn, "Sooner or later somepony would notice that! Somepony will realize who you are!"

"I'll take my chances," Star Swirl shrugged, "But until then, we still need to take care of you."

"Care of me?!" Clover gulped, well, she was done, "Can I get a blanket and warm milk then?" she smiled.

Star Swirl tapped his chin, "Mmm... No." he hummed, then the finger which was holding Clover flashed in a magical outburst and caused Clover to drop to the ground unconscious.

The draconequus folded his arms and raised up, looking down at Clover. Finally he got to use that mind-erasing spell he tried to use before the incident. Hopefully the mare wouldn't remember anything that had happened during this day, which thankfully meant getting rid of the threat of the princesses meddling into his business. Star Swirl grinned and jumped into the air, soaring off into the forest.


	5. Hello, My Name Is Discord (Montoya)

**A/N: APPULS**

* * *

Star Swirl soared above the forest, leaving Clover behind on the road to the castle. He was getting closer to town, and soon all sorts of commotion could be heard. The draconequus landed in the outskirts of the forest, silently observing what was all the fuss about. Many ponies who were trotting across the roads squirmed and flailed about as they tried to stay upright and in-balance in the dirt-turned-soap road. Some were gawking over at how the grass and stone was different of how it used to be, as well as how some plants nearby had become rock-solid crystals. But most were worried at the floating houses which were literally uprooted from the ground, the pegasi trying to save as many ponies as they could and the unicorns fruitlessly trying to bring everything back to normal.

The draconequus brushed his goatee with his hand and looked at all the damage, grinning slightly. All this mess... This chaos was just amusing to him. It seemed that when he brought the library back to normal, he forgot to turn everything else back. Star Swirl hummed as he observed two ponies rushed towards his library, probably looking for his aid. The draconequus got angry and teleported himself towards the main door of his house, there was no way anypony would be allowed inside, not even if they shaved his non-existent cat and called him grandpa.

The ponies who rushed towards the library were no other than Private Pansy and Smart Cookie. That said though, they still hadn't seen Star Swirl.

"Shouldn't we seek Clover first?" Gasped Pansy as she ran along, looking at Cookie.

"I saw her hanging out with Star Swirl earlier this day," Smart Cookie replied, "If we find that wizard I'm pretty sure we'll find Clover too!"

Pansy whined and looked forward, then, along with Smart Cookie, did a screeching halt as they saw the draconequus in front of her.

"EEK!" Pansy screamed, "What is that?!" she exclaimed, pointing at who neither of the both knew it was Star Swirl.

Star Swirl, crossed his arms and huffed, "Not a what, but a who!" he retorted, "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Smart Cookie snarled.

"I asked first!" Star Swirl huffed.

"Well, I asked second!" Smart Cookie snarked, "This isn't your house, is it?"

Star Swirl's eyes widened in shock for a bit then relaxed, "No, of course not!" he lied. Of course this was his house, but he just wasn't going to let that slip up. He was well above honesty if it didn't help his cause.

"Then what are you doing here blocking the entrance?" Smart Cookie asked, confused.

"And who are you?" Pansy added.

"None of your business for either of you two," Star Swirl sneered, "And if I were you, I'd leave." he glared at the two mares in front of him.

"What if we don't?" Smart Cookie asked, Pansy on the other hand was looking at her friend and the draconequus back and forth, then gasped.

"Well, then you risk being wingless," Star Swirl added, out of nowhere Pansy's wings appeared in his hand, demoting the mare from pegasus to earth pony for the moment, "And perhaps even worse!"

Pansy was touching her back in despair and looked at Star Swirl with a distressed face, "A-Ah... Maybe we should leave..." she eeked, Smart Cookie bit her lip and nodded.

Star Swirl grinned and with a flash Pansy's wings returned to their proper place, the mare flapped them to check if they were OK, then looked over at Smart Cookie, who was looking at her with guilt. The two mares looked at Star Swirl and gulped, and in an instant they fled from the library. The draconequus held a smug grin and waved his lion paw, soon the two fleeing mares were flailing and skating over a road of soap which appeared by surprise.

"Hahahah, I have a feeling this will be fun." Star Swirl added, teleporting inside of his library. The draconequus kicked around some things that were scattered across the ground and made his way upstairs. Peeking out from his bedroom's window, he saw all the mess that he had created once more, and laughed at some of the ponies who struggled to move about and repair the damage. Star Swirl turned around and walked towards his mirror. Now that he was taking a second look at himself, he didn't look _that_ bad. It was truly a shame that this had happened to him, but on the other hand...

The draconequus peeked out the window once more and looked over at a small grove of trees near his house, with a wave of his hand, some trees began to float, and others were turned into crystal.

Well, who needs good looks when you have such great control over such great powers, anyway? Star Swirl leaped from his window once more and began to fly without a set direction. All this madness was so amusing, perhaps this town could use some more of it?

**MEANWHILE**

"G-Get your hoof out of my ear!" Pansy exclaimed, both her and Smart Cookie had crashed with some trees after losing control while on the soapy road.

"Y-Yes, as soon as you stop tickling my nose with your wings!" Smart Cookie added, and in a pathetic display of flailing and tumbling, the two friends stood up and dusted themselves off. "Ah, there, that was something else that's for sure," Smart Cookie scoffed, then looked at Pansy, "What will we do now?"

Pansy hummed, then shrugged in confusion, "I think we should look for Clover...? And maybe some help..." she offered.

Smart Cookie bit her lip and looked at the town, it seemed everything was getting worse, then looked back at Pansy, "I think we may need to look for the princesses first, that mismatched creature guy doesn't give me a good vibe, he may have something to do with this-"

**CRASH!**

Smart Cookie and Pansy jumped and turned around, it seemed one of the houses had jumped out of its place and landed near them. Alright...

"Help first, Clover later." Smart Cookie said at Pansy with worry, Pansy looked over at her friend and nodded, and so the two mares dashed off into the Everfree Forest.

**BACK TO THE CHARACTER THIS FAN FICTION WAS NAMED AFTER**

Star Swirl lifted up some more houses and began to switch up some more things. Soon some ponies began to float around, a house was turned into a pile of playing cards, and a bakery's goods began to attack some of the closest passerbys. The draconequus laughed, but it was cut short when he forgot to move out of the way and got hit with a flying house. With a cough he groaned and kept on flying across the town, causing more and more pranks. Below on the ground some ponies noticed the strange silhouette flying over them, so some of them began to shout things at the creature that they thought was a pony. Some unicorns were even reckless enough to shoot laser beams at it.

Star Swirl evaded all the attacks, and decided to retreat, so in a hurry he teleported back to his library. The ponies all were left with confused or angry expressions, and went back to trying to fight back the effects Star Swirl had done to the town.

The draconequus reappeared inside his room and sighed in relief. He needed to be more careful about this, the townsfolk were beginning to notice all of this was his doing.

"...Oh!" Star Swirl eeked and bit his lip. He needed to erase any connection with his old self. The less the ponies knew, the better. He needed to create a new identity, or at least stop anypony from putting two and two together. Although the latter would be difficult, just ask Clover how much of a nuisance she was...

Clover...

What did she matter, anyways? Her memory was wiped clean from any sort of event of today, no need to worry. Who cares if he left her in the Everfree Forest?

...

Maybe he cared, just a little bit...

...

No, no he didn't. She earned that, and right now he had other problems to take care of. Discord peeked out of his window once more and chuckled at all the squirming and panicking ponies. All of this chaos, disharmony even. Hmm...

"Discord," Star Swirl muttered, that was the word on the tip of his tongue. He actually liked that word, quite a lot in fact. It described the madness that was going on outside quite nicely. "That's such a beautiful thing~" He cooed. This gave him an idea.

He already had the looks, he already had the powers, and he already had the ability to convince ponies of what he wasn't. Nopony would associate this with a scruffy old guy like Star Swirl the Bearded. They would associate it with something powerful, something that was unstoppable and chaotic.

The draconequus teleported himself into a plaza, causing the ground beneath him to turn into a blue checker pattern. This caused all the ponies nearby to notice him and approach him with anger, immediately linking him to all the new randomness that was going on.

"Hey you!" A stallion exclaimed, pointing at Star Swirl, "Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

Star Swirl looked over at the red stallion and grinned evilly, then rushed towards him and looked down at him, "Oh, me?" he laughed, and flapped his wings to hover off the ground.

"I'm just having a little fun! As for who I am..." Star Swirl smirked, and with a snap of his fingers, the sky grew cloudy, and thunder began to roar nearby. Soon all the ponies near Star Swirl began to float, just like the first time he had casted a spell after becoming an alicorn. This caused the townsfolk to panic.

"You can call me Discord," Discord replied smugly, causing everything around him to go completely haywire, "The Lord of Chaos!" he laughed ominously.

...

"Goodness me, that sounder way too cheesy..." The draconequus thought after throwing a coughing fit from laughing so much.

This was going to be a painful, long night for everyone.

Everyone except Discord.

**MEANWHILE**

Pansy and Smart Cookie managed to escape the madness that had become the town. Running across the forest, they were talking to each other.

"I tell you Pansy..." Smart Cookie panted, "There is something weird about that guy we met earlier, I think he's behind the town's current state..."

"But who is he?" Pansy replied, almost tripping with a tree branch, which forced her to fly instead of running, "Where did he come from?"

"I don't know, but if we don't stop this soon, something terrible might happen-" Smart Cookie gasped and stopped running, looking at the road, "Clover?!" she gasped and trotted over to the mare with Pansy following.

Clover was lying on the ground, seemingly asleep. Smart Cookie poked her and shook her lightly, which caused Clover to groan and begin to wake up.

"U-Urgh... Wha- Where am I?" Clover asked and looked around, making eye-contact with her friends, "Smart Cookie? Pansy? What are we doing here?"

"You don't remember anything?" Pansy asked, gasping.

"...Not really," Clover whimpered, "What's going on?"

"Some crazy creature is wrecking havoc across town." Smart Cookie explained.

"Crazy creature?" Clover asked tilting her head, "I... I'm not very sure, but I think that rings a bell..."

"It does? Do you know anything about that creat-"

"BUNNY STAMPEDE!" Pansy screeched, pointing at a distant point on the road and causing Smart Cookie and Clover to look at her with confusion.

"Pansy- What in the world-" Clover got cut off.

"RUN!" Pansy screeched and began to flee. Soon enough the other two mares realized what was coming their way.

A horde of bunnies with horse legs, were stampeding their way towards them.


End file.
